RNZAF Black Falcons head north aiming flyover several North Island cities

UPDATE: THESE FLYPASTS HAVE BEEN CANCELED DUE TO POOR WEATHER.

This weekend, the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) Black Falcons will take to the skies over the North Island. The team will fly over many towns across the North Island with a focus on town centres.

The RNZAF Black Falcons pulling into a loop after passing over the crowd | Photo: Noah Stohr-Waldren

The team will fly in formation over many different areas of the North Island on both Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday morning (14/3), the six texan aircraft will depart from Base Auckland, flying north along the west coast of Northland all the way to Kaitaia before returning back to Whenuapai via the east coast of Northland and Auckland.

Then in the afternoon, the formation will take off from Whenuapai and conduct an afternoon flight around the Coromandel Peninsula to Waihi before returning back to Auckland once again.

Finally, on Sunday morning the team will fly south from Auckland down to Gisborne via the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and East Cape. After reaching Gisborne, they will refuel before the final leg back to Base Ohakea.

Unfortunately, the formation will not perform any aerobatic manoeuvres on their tour, only flyovers. The team is also sadly not flying over the NZ Warbirds Warbirds On Parade airshow at Ardmore this Sunday.

The team of five RNZAF T-6 Texan II’s rolling out of a formation barrel roll | Photo: Noah Stohr-Waldren

The RNZAF Black Falcons are a team of five Beechcraft T-6 Texan II turboprop aircraft. The team began in 2016 succeeding the previous RNZAF display team, the Red Checkers.

The T-6 Texan II is a modern trainer aircraft capable of flying at 320 kts and at altitudes up to 31,000 ft while being able to pull up to +7/-3.5 g’s - although the team only pulls around 4 g’s in their current airshow display as they primarily focus on keeping a tight and safe formation.

The formation display team flies at several events around New Zealand including the upcoming Warbirds Over Wānaka airshow.